The Break Up
by Rita Arabella Black
Summary: Charlie Weasley receives an urgent owl from his girlfriend, Minerva, who needs to see him right away. That's never good.


**A/N: In my little world, Charlie Weasley lives in America, plays professional Quidditch and works in the only dragon preserve in North America. He also helps his friends fight dark wizards. He co-authored a children's book called **_**Dragons in America **_**with his friend Michael G. Hendershot.**

_Based on characters created by J. K. Rowling_

The Breakup

Charlie received an unexpected owl from his girlfriend, Minerva Kingsley, who said she had something she urgently wanted to discuss with him and would he please visit her the first chance he got? There was no indication why Minerva wanted him to go to Hamilton, Ontario. Her letter wasn't about to give anything away. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end when he read the letter, and he thought this was never a good sign.

If she was going to accuse him of cheating on her, he could honestly say that he had not. He was very proud of the fact that they had been together for over six months, and he hadn't slept with any other women. Okay, so he'd come close. Real close, but since he was interrupted by a swarm of giant spiders before consummating the act, then he could honestly say he hadn't cheated on her.

Then again, maybe nothing was wrong, maybe she just wanted to see him. It had been almost three months since they'd been together. He was getting extra shifts at the preserve due to a new policy of having tour groups in the preserve and he was called upon to be a guide on a weekend tour. He wasn't happy about it, but what could you do? He would rather not breathe than not work with his beloved dragons.

Fortunately, he and Pete were rewarded for saving a group of tourists from a swarm of giant spiders on the very first tour, so he was given an extra day off that weekend. Charlie made arrangements to visit Minerva. He also was anxious to visit his brand new god daughter, Kayleigh. His best friends, Joanna and Jordan gave birth to their daughter on Valentine's Day.

Americans used a version of the floo network to travel quickly between great distances. Since most American homes don't have fireplaces, an ingenious inventor came up with a floo closet, designed for the same purpose as its English cousin. The closet looked like an old-timey outhouse or a water closet. Most wizards preferred not having friends and neighbors pop into their living areas, so the floos were usually set up outside the residences, which is why they looked like outhouses.

There were no floos at the preserve; most guests arrived by port key. Charlie had to travel by port key to a public floo station (set up to look like a muggle bus station), where he would travel to the Kingsley's house in Hamilton.

This was probably the reason Minerva didn't want to visit Charlie very often. She didn't like to wait around in busy floo stations with the rest of the common folk. She was still rather uppity, but Charlie that found charming. Charlie honestly believed she couldn't help herself. He loved to tease her about it. He considered himself strictly working class and she was the princess.

He arrived very early in the morning before anyone else was up. He flew up to Minerva's window, which was on the second floor and knocked on the window. It took her a minute or two before she realized that Charlie was floating outside her window. She put on her dressing gown and opened the window.

"Charlie!" she exclaimed. "I—"

Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, he grabbed her and kissed her.

"God, I've missed you," he said finally releasing her.

"I didn't know you could fly," she said as she helped him through the window.

Once inside, he kissed her again and started pushing her toward her bed. She pushed him away.

"Charlie," she said in a scandalized tone. "My parents."

"They're on another floor, far away. Come on, baby, I've missed you." He held her close and kissed her until she was weak and begging for more. This time she pulled him to her bed. She struggled impatiently to undress him, fumbling awkwardly with his shirt. She moaned his named, exciting him even more. Just as suddenly, Minerva stiffened and pushed him away.

"No!" she said, breathlessly. "I can't."

"Are you serious?" he panted, his breathing still hard.

She pushed him off of her and sat up. "I'm sorry." She pulled the covers over her, "We need to talk."

_Oh shit,_ Charlie thought. _That's never good_. "Now? You want to talk now?" He raked his hands through his hair, trying to control his heart rate and breathing.

"Yes, now." Her voice was soft and tearful. "This isn't going to work," she began, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Charlie wiped the tear away. "Baby," he said, kissing her hair. "I swear I haven't cheated on you." Well, that was partly true. "You know I love you."

She nodded, but turned her head away from his gaze. "It isn't you. I--, I've met someone and I've fallen in love."

Stunned, Charlie didn't know what to say. His reaction surprised him. He was hurt and angry. That combination of emotions was so foreign to him that he was speechless. He sat on the edge of the bed for several minutes without saying anything.

She tried to touch him, but he flinched. "I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you."

Charlie shrugged his shoulders and reached for the rest of his clothes. His jaw was clenched as he got dressed. He smoothed his hair back and re-tied his pony tail. He couldn't look at her.

"Talk to me, Charlie," she said trying to get him to look at her. She turned his head toward her with her hands, but threw her hands away.

He tried not to look hurt. He tried desperately to smile; to laugh it off, but he couldn't. Maybe he wasn't ready to settle down and spend the rest of eternity with her. After all, he wasn't the marrying kind. But he never expected his reaction to be so fierce. He would miss her and she was the closest he had ever come to real love.

"What do you want me to say? Congratulations?" His tone was harsh.

"We never meant for this to happen. It just happened." She put his hands up.

"Okay." He finally turned and looked at her. He nodded, pursing his lips. "Okay," he repeated. "I gotta go." He walked to her bedroom door and opened it with a jerk. He wasn't going out the way he came in. He wanted to go out the front door. He needed to get out of there as quickly as possible.

"Don't go like this," Minerva begged. "I'd like for us to be friends."

"Sure. Okay. Fine. Good-bye, friend. See you around."

He slammed the door behind him. He hurried down the stairs and saw a surprised Mrs. Kingsley coming out of her bedroom headed for the kitchen. He waved to her absently and went out the front door, slamming it hard behind him.

_Now what? _He wondered as he stood on the Kingsley's front porch. He wanted to get out of there before anyone could follow him and ask a bunch of stupid questions. He thought about Joanna and Jordan, but he didn't want to bother them, it was much too early in the morning and he was sure that as new parents they needed all the sleep they could get.

What the fuck, they were his best friends and he needed someone to talk to. He apparated outside the back door of their house. Joanna was in the kitchen holding a pink blanketed baby. All Charlie could see of the baby was tufts of hair that was the same shade of pink as the blanket. Joanna was cooing to her as she prepared a baby bottle.

He knocked on the door. Surprised, she looked up and smiled broadly.

"Oh my God," she said, opening the door. "It's you!" She kissed him soundly and hugged him with one arm. She held up the baby proudly.

"So? What do you think? Don't I do good work? Can't believe she's a Metamorphmagus!" Joanna had the glow of a new mother. She looked beautiful.

"She's really beautiful," he said holding on to her tiny hand. "She's so little."

"What're you doing in town? No one said you were coming. But then we don't hear from the rich folk much since Jordan decided he needed to get away from them. I think we're moving to Texas in a few months. Won't that be nice? We can be neighbors." She babbled on. She took a breath, finally. "Where's Minerva? Have you seen her yet?"

Charlie looked at her. "Yeah, I saw her already."

Joanna looked at his face. "What happened?"

Charlie shook his head. "She dumped me." He said quietly.

"What did you do? Oh well, doesn't matter, she's a bitch anyway. I never did like her."

Charlie grinned in spite of himself. He kissed her cheek. "I love you, Joanna.

"What's this?" a voice from behind them bellowed. They turned and a very sleepy Jordan stood in the door. He smiled broadly at their surprised look. "Hi, Charlie. Well, what do you think of the prettiest baby in the entire world?" He walked up to them and took Kayleigh in his arms. She smiled a toothless grin and her hair turned bright egg yolk yellow.

"That's her happy color," Joanna explained.

"She's beautiful," he said, meaning every word.

"Jordan, Minerva dumped Charlie,"

Charlie grimaced then nodded. "Yep." He tried to sound casual, but he didn't think he quite pulled it off.

Jordan looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry, bro." He didn't look too surprised. "I know she's my sister and all, but she is a bit of a bitch. You'll do better without her. She carried way too much baggage."

"Apparently," Charlie said, "she's in love." He said it quietly. Jordan and Joanna looked at him, stunned.

"What?" Jordan said, unbelievably. "You're shitting me, right?"

Charlie smiled and shook his head and shrugged.

"Did she say who?" Jordan asked. He hadn't spoken to her in several weeks, so he had no idea who she was seeing. Or how she could possibly met someone. The only activity that Jordan was aware of was that she played viola in a muggle string quartet.

"I didn't ask." Charlie said.

"Jordan," said Joanna. "Take Charlie out and the two of you get pissed. I think he needs it."

"Jeez, Joanna," Charlie said. "It's eight o'clock in the morning. It's a little early don't you think?"

Joanna slapped his arm. "I didn't mean now, goofy. You are going to stay with us, aren't you?"

Charlie shrugged. "I guess so." He had absolutely no plans since his weekend had been ruined. He didn't feel like going back to the preserve just yet.

Charlie spent the rest of the day playing with baby Kayleigh. Her hair turned bright red when he picked up for the first time. She smiled and cooed at him, clearly happy to be held by Charlie.

"I knew it," said Joanna, laughing. "She's a sucker for that Weasley charm."

"You know what?" Jordan said, suddenly. "I just remembered, Minerva's Kayleigh's godmother. I can choose someone else" He was serious.

Charlie shook his head. "No, are you serious? Listen, don't worry about it. I'm a big boy. Hey, I've been dumped before."

"That's right," said Joanna, clearly trying to help. "And by much prettier women, too."

"Right," Jordan agreed.

By that evening, Charlie was feeling a lot better. He agreed to go out with Jordan. Joanna said going out would do them both a lot of good. They went to a popular bar in Hamilton, but didn't go to their favorite Quidditch bar; ever since Jordan left the Hamilton Horntails Quidditch team in favor of the Flying American Red Dragons, he has been _persona non grata _in Hamilton. It had been a while since Jordan had been out drinking, so it didn't take him long before he started feeling the effects of the alcohol. About an hour into steady drinking he suggested that they go find Minerva and beat the shit out of her boyfriend. Charlie, who wasn't quite as drunk as Jordan, but still pissed off, agreed.

They hatched an elaborate plan to find her new boyfriend. Jordan decided to run by his mother's house and casually talk to them about Minerva and find out if they knew where the son of a bitch lived. Then after a couple more hours of steady drinking, the plan became an elaborate kidnapping plot involving a shrinking spell that would reduce the asshole's penis to the size of a peanut—a very small peanut. That was the plan that they finally agreed on.

So the two of them set out to his mother's house. The lights were still on in the house and as they were coming up the walk, Jordan saw a muggle car drive up to the front door. Jordan pushed Charlie out of the way and they hid in the bushes. A man wearing a tuxedo got out of the car and walked pointedly up the walkway. He was actually whistling. Charlie was sure this was the new boy friend, and started out of hiding to confront him, but Jordan held him back. They watched as he walked on the porch and rang the door bell. In a very short time, the door opened and out walked Minerva. She was wearing a shimmering white evening gown and she was carrying a viola case. She was wearing a fur wrap and she looked dazzling. It took everything Charlie had not to run out to her. Jordan looked at the expression on his face and pulled on his arm.

"We'll follow them," he whispered. Using a very bad disillusioning charm, Charlie and he blended into the background. They hurried to the back of the car and sat on the trunk.

Once the man placed Minerva gently in the passenger side, he literally skipped around to the driver's side and quickly got in. Charlie watched as the man leaned over and kissed Minerva. Charlie balled his hands into fists and almost fell off when the car started to roll away. Jordan grabbed him.

The car drove into the city and parked outside a hotel. They followed them inside. Charlie was ready to hex the guy if they got a room, but they went into one of the larger rooms that had a stage set up and about fifty chairs. Apparently Minerva was going to perform with her chamber group.

Jordan grabbed Charlie's arm. "He's a muggle," he said. The word muggle came out harsher than he wished . His sister's new boyfriend was a muggle. "Look at them together."

Charlie did not want to look at them at all. He was done. He wanted to leave. She looked so happy. He did wonder if the guy knew she was magical. Minerva looked comfortable in the non-magical world.

"Let's go, Jordan." He said quietly. "Fuck it." He turned to leave, but Jordan was just drunk enough to be belligerent.

Jordan shook him off. "Minerva!" He shouted at his sister.

"Oh shit," Charlie said.

Minerva turned around, the smile fading from face. "What are you doing here?"

"You going to introduce us to your boyfriend?" he asked, weaving slightly. "You dumped the best wizard in the world, and my best friend for this," he looked up and down at the poor man, _"muggle."_ He spat out the word.

Charlie grabbed his arm and started pulling him away. "I'm sorry, Minerva." Charlie said, struggling with Jordan.

Minerva was livid. "Come with me," she said sharply to Charlie. She pulled him to the rear of the room.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped. "You're going to ruin everything. Why couldn't you just go away? And why did you drag my brother into this? This is none of either of your business. Go away."

"I'm sorry, Minerva," he said quietly. He was a little unsteady on his feet.

"You're drunk," she said coldly.

He nodded guiltily. "Sorry. It sounded like a good idea at the time. We, I mean I just wanted to see him. You can't blame me, can you?"

"Yes, I can. Nelson's none of your business and you stay away from him."

"He doesn't know you're a witch?" he asked.

Minerva flushed. "No," she said quietly. "And I don't want him to know. I'm prepared to give up magic."

"Good luck with that." He said sarcastically. "Don't you think he has a right to know? What if you get married and have children? Are you going to stifle the magic out of them?"

"If I have to," she said coldly.

"What about your family?" Charlie didn't believe Minerva could walk away from his family.

"They'll understand." She said hedging a little. "Besides, I'll work this out. And you stay out of my life. And take my brother with you. I love him, Charlie. Surely you understand how I feel."

Charlie shook his head. "No," he said.

"You had a muggle girlfriend. You know what it's like."

"I never lied to her. I never tried to be something I wasn't. She understood and knew our lives were different. You owe Nelson that much. If he loves you, he'll understand. If not, then you're better off. You can't give up who you are."

"I'm practically a squib anyway, Charlie. I don't use magic that much. I won't miss it." She seemed determined and Charlie didn't have the energy to talk her into something she didn't want. Charlie was surprised at Jordan's reaction. He certainly hadn't shown any prejudice against muggles, but this was his sister, after all.

Charlie always liked muggles. He was in awe of them for the longest time until he met some friends who showed him how he could live in both worlds. He believed it _was_ possible to live in both worlds. He was sorry that Minerva chose to give up who she was. But he was certainly in no position to tell her what to do. The decision was hers and he wished her the best.

He nodded at her response. Then he smiled. "Well, best of luck, baby. You know I love you." He kissed her gently on the cheek. He watched as a single tear slid down her cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb.

He turned away from her and walked toward Jordan, who was watching both Nelson and the exchange between Minerva and Charlie. Nelson stared at Charlie, not getting who he was. Minerva said that she had to talk to an old boyfriend, but he didn't understand this funny dressed red head. He looked like a warrior and physically Nelson was afraid of him. He didn't know which of the two men was her boyfriend, but guessed it was the red head. The other, drunker man was apparently a relative.

Nelson shied away as Charlie approached him. Charlie held out his hand and introduced himself. He explained that he loved Minerva and if he ever did anything to hurt her, he would personally turn him into a toad. He grinned when he said it, but Nelson got the feeling that he would really do it if he could.

Charlie grabbed Jordan, who was now sitting on one of the chairs, and dragged him out the door. Jordan looked at Nelson, rolled his eyes, and said, "If he doesn't turn you into a toad, I will. Bye, sis." He put his arm around Charlie's shoulder and they walked out of the room together.

They apparated to Jordan's back door. Joanna was waiting for them.

"I'll take him. Poor baby," She kissed him. "He's not used to drinking so much. So, what did you do."

Charlie told Joanna what had happened that evening with Minerva. He explained that Minerva was going to give up magic for love.

"Take special care of Jordan. He just lost his sister."

Joanna nodded and kissed Charlie gently on his cheek. "I'll take care of both of you."


End file.
